Transport and display package for slab-form objects

ABSTRACT

Package for chocolate bars or other slab-form objects. During transportation, bars are stacked vertically in container. For display, bars adopt inclined position determined by foldable projections at the rear and top walls of container. In an alternative embodiment the tabs are replaced by a slide.

United States Patent [191 Win [4 1 Aug. 26, 1975 1 TRANSPORT AND DISPLAY PACKAGE FOR SLAB-FORM OBJECTS [75] Inventor: Manfred Witt, Neu-lsenberg,

Germany [73] Assignee: Ferrero GmbH, Marburg, Germany [22] Filed: Feb. 1, 1973 [21] App]. No; 328,594

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 8, 1972 Germany 2205856 [52] US. Cl 206/4515; 206/526 [51} Int. Cl. 865d 5/50 [58] Field at Search 206/44 R, 45.11, 45.13,

[56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 1,592,922 7/1926 Burnham 206/ 518 1,909,474 5 1933 Kcppler 206/44 R 2,052,675 9/1936 Tanner 206/41; 2,078,018 4/937 Powell 206/44 R 2,688,396 9/1954 Fryburger 206/44 R 3,339,714 9/1967 Thompson 206/4515 Primary Examiner-William 1. Price Assistant Exqmin'erStephen Marcus Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Albert F. Kronrnan, Esq.

[s71 ABSTRACT Package for chocolate bars or other slab-form objects. During transportation, bars are stacked vertically in container. For display, bars adopt inclined position determined by foldable projections at the rear and top walls of container. In an alternative embodiment the tabs are replaced a slide.

4Cla'1m s, 10 Drawing Figures PMENTEDAUEZBIQYS 01 3 3 SHZET 1 BF 3 FIG. 2

7 PRIOR ART FIG. 7

PRIOR ART PRIOR ART PATENTED AUG 2 6 I975 SHEET 2 [IF 3 FIG. 5

FIG. 6

TRANSPORT AND DISPLAY PACKAGE FOR SLAB-FORM OBJECTS This invention relates to a transport and display package for slab-form objects, in particular chocolate bars, which package, in the display position, is open at least at its front side and includes an inclined positioning member arranged adjacent the rear wall.

Slab-form objects, eg chocolate bars, are usually arranged in sale stands so that on the one hand they present to an onlooker the largest possible advertising surface and on the other hand that removal of individual chocolate bars is a simple as possible. In particular, in the case of packages for supermarkets, discount stores or the like, to render the transport packages for such slab-form objects suitable as display packages and so that they require minimum packaging space during transport the slab-form objects should be transported in the form which is most economical on space.

In a known transport and display package this is achieved by providing the display package with two separate inserts, one of which is leaned against the rear wall and serves as a so-called inclined positioning member, whilst the other is pushed over the frontmost bars during transport to serve as a so-called frame member. This threepart transport and display package is not only complicated in regard to packaging but requires the ultimate user", e.g. in discount stores and supermarkets to remove the so-called frame member after setting up the transport and display package.

The problem underlying the invention is to provide a transport and display package of the type referred to above which is not only simple in construction but which also facilitates packing and unpacking.

According to the invention there is provided a transport and display package for slab-form objects (such as chocolate bars), including means for positioning the objects in the package, wherein said means are formed from part of at least one wall of the package and comprise projections which in the transport position of the package hold the objects in vertical positions and in the display position hold the objects in inclined positions.

Accordingly, the invention provides a package which is unitary, and which can be packed in the most simple manner; the ultimate user can bring a display package into the required inclined position and accordingly the position of sale by means of a simple manual operation.

According to a preferred embodiment the inclined positioning member include projections comprising portions of the rear and/or upper walls of the package.

The inclined positioning member can comprise projections which at their inner sides are fixed to the rear and/or upper wall. It is also possible that the projections may comprise at least one slide or the like which is slidably mounted in the rear or upper wall.

A further embodiment resides in that the projections comprise tabs or the like which are cut from the side and upper walls and have three fold lines, the centre one of which corresponds with that between the rear and/or upper wall of the package.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood and readily carried into practice one known construction and a number of embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example in the drawings. The drawings show:

FIGS. 1 to 3 the individual parts ofa known transport and display package;

FIG. 4 a known transport and display package assembled from the parts shown in FIGS. 1 to 3;

FIG. 5 an embodiment of the display package according to the invention in the transport position;

FIG. 6 a detail of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 a detail of the embodiment of FIG. 5 in the position of sale;

FIG. 8 a detail of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 a detail of a modified embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 10 a detail ofa further modified embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 1 to 3 show the individual parts of a known transport and display package. The first of these is a container 1 comprising a bottom wall 2, a front wall 3, side walls 4 and 5, a rear wall 6 and an upper wall 7. The individual sections of container 1 can be folded together along fold lines 8, 9, 10.

This known transport and display package also includes a so-called inclined positioning member 11 which in the operative position leans against the rear wall 6 of the display package.

Member 11 comprises a panel 12 corresponding to the width of a display package and an angled holding portion 13 which in use determines the extent of the inclined position with respect to the bottom wall 4 of container 1. When the display package is to be transported, after insertion of the inclined positioning member l I and filling of the display package, a frame member 14 is inserted, which itself has a front wall 15 with a window 16 (for advertising purposes) side walls l7, l8, l9 and 20 and fold lines 21.

As can be seen from FIG. 4 the inclined positioning member 11 is leaned against the rear wall of the container l and accordingly serves to hold the slab-form objects, e.g. bars of chocolate, in fixed inclined positions. To ensure that the inclined positions are maintained during transportation the frame member 14 is pushed back as can be seen from FIG. 4.

In the display package according to the invention as shown in FIG. 5 a container is provided, having a front wall 31, side walls 32, 33, and a rear wall 34. Whilst the front wall 31 and the two side walls 32 and 33 extend only over about a third of the height of the container, rear wall 34 covers the whole height. Linked to the rear wall is an upper wall 35 to which a front wall portion 36 is further linked, having in its lower region the fold line is denoted 37 a pivoted tab 38. Whilst this display package is (in the transport position) completely closed at the top, below and to the front and rear, it is open at the side; additional wall parts 39 and 40 are provided, extending over parts of the side surfaces.

To maintain the inclined positions of the chocolate bars (packed upright) it is necessary that the lower edge of the rearmost upright chocolate bar is disposed at a spacing from the rear wall 34.

In the illustrated embodiment this spacing is achieved by means of tabs 41 and 42 having fold lines 50, S1, 52 and 53 which extend parallel to the bottom wall. These tabs can be pressed out of areas 43, 44 in the bottom wall and in the rear wall 34; in both the transport position and the display condition these tabs adopt the position shown in FIG. 5.

Additional tabs 62 and 63 are provided between the rear wall 34 and the upper wall 35, which tabs can be pressed out when the package is in the transport posiand the rear wall. To achieve the inclined position of the chocolate bars, the front wall portion 36 with tabs 38 as already noted is drawn out of the position illustrated in FIG. 5 and folded under as shown in FIG. 7. By drawing out and moving upwardly the upper wall 35 and by virtue of the weight of the chocolate bars the extensions 62 and 63 are automatically pressed back out of the position shown in HO. 5 to the position shown in FIG. 7, i.e. such that the extensions 62, 63 are now disposed parallel with the upper wall and the rear wall, closing the areas 60, 61.

FIG. 6 shows a detail of how the chocolate bars 71 are maintained in the vertical or upright position by the extensions 62, 63. After the lid has been swung in the direction of arrow 72 the stack of chocolate bars press the extensions 62 into the position illustrated in FIG. 8. Subsequently the tab 38 of the front wall part 36 can be inserted behind the stack of chocolate bars. The package is now in the display position.

FIG. 9 shows a modified embodiment of the invention. Retaining the same parts of the container the inclined positioning member comprises in this embodiment a slide 80 which is arranged in the upper wall 35 and can for example carry a price tag or the like. The slide 80 can adopt two positions namely one for the transport position and one for the display position. In the depressed position of the slide (indicated in dotted lines at 81) the slide holds the stack of slab-form objects in the vertical position. in this embodiment there is no need to fold up the top wall but merely to pull out the slide (the position indicated in heavy lines): in this position the slide 80 as already noted can serve as a carrier for price tags or advertising matter. After the slide 80 has been pulled out, the stack of chocolate bars automatically falls into the inclined position.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 10 a slide 83 is likewise provided, being mounted to slide in the direction of arrow 84; this slide has a horizontally extending part 85, a vertically extending part 86 and a hand grip 87.

To bring the package from the transport position (vertical position of the chocolate bars) into the display position the slide must simply be drawn in the direction of arrow 84 up to the abutment. The stack of chocolate bars then automatically falls into the inclined position.

I claim:

1. A transport and display package for slab-form objects comprising: a back wall joined to an upper wall along a fold line, side walls joined to the back wall and to a front wall to form a container for transport; a portion of the back and upper walls partially separated therefrom by cuts but joined to the upper and back walls by fold lines to form inwardly extending projections, thereby providing barriers for supporting the objects during transport, and foldable to form planar surfaces with the upper and back walls for supporting the objects in an inclined position for display purposes.

2. A transport and display package according to claim 1 wherein the package includes a bottom wall with portions of the bottom wall and the back wall partially separated from the walls by cuts but joined to the bottom and back walls by fold lines to form inwardly extending projections, thereby providing a barrier for limiting the positions of the objects on the bottom wall when the objects are displayed.

3. A transport and display package according to claim 1 wherein the projections are folded to positions where the projection surfaces lie in the same planes as the upper and back walls, and wherein a flap from a front wall is folded back to maintain the projections in their display positions.

4. A transport and display package according to claim 1 wherein the projections comprise foldable portions of the upper and back walls, each having three fold lines, the center fold line corresponding to the fold line between the back and upper walls of the package and the other two fold lines positioned in parallel with the center fold line. 

1. A transport and display package for slab-form objects comprising: a back wall joined to an upper wall along a fold line, side walls joined to the back wall and to a front wall to form a container for transport; a portion of the back and upper walls partially separated therefrom by cuts but joined to the upper and back walls by fold lines to form inwardly extending projections, thereby providing barriers for supporting the objects during transport, and foldable to form planar surfaces with the upper and back walls for supporting the objects in an inclined position for display purposes.
 2. A transport and display package according to claim 1 wherein the package includes a bottom wall with portions of the bottom wall and the back wall partially separated from the walls by cuts but joined to the bottom and back walls by fold lines to form inwardly extending projections, thereby providing a barrier for limiting the positions of the objects on the bottom wall when the objects are displayed.
 3. A transport and display package according to claim 1 wherein the projections are folded to positions where the projection surfaces lie in the same planes as the upper and back walls, and wherein a flap from a front wall is folded back to maintain the projections in their display positions.
 4. A transport and display package according to claim 1 wherein the projections comprise foldable portions of the upper and back walls, each having three fold linEs, the center fold line corresponding to the fold line between the back and upper walls of the package and the other two fold lines positioned in parallel with the center fold line. 